


Runes and Cat Eyes

by thenovaksisters



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Boyfriends in love, Fluff, M/M, Magnus admiring his sleeping boyfriend, Sleepy Alec, domesticness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 01:52:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11453511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenovaksisters/pseuds/thenovaksisters
Summary: In all his years of living, Magnus has always considered being loved by someone a gift to be treasured. Because of all the people in the world, someone choosing to love you is special. Someone choosing to risk their heart with you, their secrets and their pleasures, is special and rare and delicate, especially when love can be so easily shattered.And yet to be loved by Alexander is something entirely overwhelming, even for Magnus.(Basically just Magnus’ thoughts as he watches his sleeping Alexander and Alec at the end being an adorable, sleepy boyfriend)





	Runes and Cat Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after 2X15, after Alec and Magnus have talked about Magnus' past, but it was written before so I used the sneaky peaks and then just my own head canon of how I think it will go.  
> Hope you enjoy, as always I love hearing any opinions :)

_‘Your eyes are just like my runes. They make you who you are and I love you Magnus. I could never find any part of you ugly.’_

Alec’s words echo in Magnus’ thoughts; just as devastating as they’d been when the shadowhunter had first uttered them into Magnus chest just before he’d fallen into sleep the night before.

Devastating because from the shadowhunter’s lips, Magnus can only believe them. Spoken with Alec’s own patented sincerity, the warlock cannot disregard them even now, ten hours later, dawning sunlight peeking in through practically parted curtains.  

Devastating because believing Alec means that he’s finally handed the shadowhunter all the ammunition needed to destroying him. Now Alec can do exactly as Camille did a century ago: break his heart into un-mendable pieces, leave him shattered and broken and unlikely to ever open his heart to anyone again.

Does he believe Alec would be capable of something like that? No. Does he still fear it? Yes.

Last night had been everything Magnus had been trying to prevent. With sweet greeting kisses, his standard endearments and returned queries of concern, the warlock had been deflecting every effort of Alec’s to find out what was eating away at Magnus for the past few weeks at least.

And then last night Magnus had crumbled. His words had flooded out at alarming rate, the dam of emotions finally breaking free and he’d fallen apart in front of his shadowhunter, completely aware he had no way of knowing how Alec would react.

When Alec had hugged him, reassured him through hushed honest words and never once let go of Magnus’ hand, the warlock didn’t know whether to be relieved, surprised or pleased.

And after a few hours of silent companionship had passed, a peace slowly coming to resign in the warlock’s chest, Magnus had seeked out Alec’s arms again and felt the shadowhunter’s caution, and how when they’d continued to kiss, kisses with more heat to them, Alec remained resolute that they’d take everything slowly.

Last night had ended with them wound up in bedsheets, Alec’s head to his chest, and the words that still echo in Magnus’ thoughts now: ‘ _I could never find any part of you ugly’._

Now Alexander lies beside Magnus. His body rested on its side till his hips twist and the bedding bunches at the small of his back covering the rest of him.

He even looks peaceful. Unapologetically Alec, like only once he’s caught up in sleep can his façade drop. The façade of being a perfect son, a perfect parabati, a perfect shadowhunter.

Here, head cushion on his arm, hand disappearing under Magnus’ pillow, Alec can relax and finally _be_ , without anyone there to criticise him for it.

Beside Magnus he lies peacefully displaying everything that makes him Alec: runes that run along his arms and chest, shoulders for once relaxed yet still built of well-trained muscle, and the silver scars of his profession lining his skin.  

Of course, this is one of the only times Magnus can fully appreciate his shadowhunter. Only when Alec is well and truly tangled up in the rhythm of sleep can Magnus fully let his eyes linger across Alec and appreciate every aspect of him.

It’s something Magnus has come to enjoy about falling for different people over the centuries he’s lived: falling into love anew means discovering that person for the first time, discovering their quirks and habits and everything that joins up to make them who they are. It means first times and surprises, and Alexander has been _full_ of surprises.

Over the short time they’ve been dating, already Magnus has found that the shadowhunter would much rather be pressed flush against him, or be littering open mouthed kisses across Magnus’ chest and lower, than let the warlock stop to admire him or break away for a beat and rake his eyes over Alec is all his shy beauty.

In fact, it almost amuses the warlock thinking back to the nights they’ve spent together where the room was lit by nothing but moonlight as opposed to chandelier light, and suddenly Alec was far more willing to slow things down.  

Alec can’t help but flush under the watchful eye of his boyfriend and seeing as he already spends most of their time together flushed from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, he’d rather lessen the opportunity of blushing during their more… intimate moments.

If a room only lit by moonlight prevents Magnus from staring as much, Alec seems content to leave whole minutes apart from the warlock’s skin or lips.

Magnus has every confidence that Alec isn’t ashamed of his body but if he can stop the warlock from lingering admiring gazes across his chest, he will. It’s one of Alec’s quirks and as frustrating as it can be, Magnus can’t help but simultaneously find it endearing.

However, caught up in the chains of dreams, a sleeping Alexander is one Magnus can admire all he wants.

This morning, though, Alec’s words returning to him time and time again, has Magnus focusing on one particular aspect of his shadowhunter: his runes.

While Magnus cannot claim that he’s dated a shadowhunter before Alec, his knowledge of the markings that litter their skin is by no means limited. For one reason or another, or in some causes many reasons at once, he knows the names and purposes of almost all the runes that pattern his Alexander.

He’s known shadowhunters for centuries; met a few he liked, a great few he disliked and some he most definitely hated. Alexander Gideon Lightwood is the only one to date that he’s come to love.

Their runes have always been partly fascinating to Magnus, drawn to hold angelic power that little can contest and give the wearer abilities sometimes beyond even a warlock’s. He’s witnessed their power and their miss use, and the devastation that can wreck.

For his Alexander, there are runes of permanent feature against his skin, stark black markings snaking around his ribs and painted across the plains of his stomach and chest that Magnus has memorised the placement of by now. And then there are the faded runes waiting to be reapplied when next needed; ghosts across Alec’s pale skin, some faded beyond all recognition.  

Supposedly the most important rune is the Angelic one, partially visible on Alec’s arm from where his head lies upon it because in Alexander’s world his bicep is the more comfortable pillow. Magnus knows that the Angelic rune is usually the first shadowhunters get, and it’s the very rune that makes Alec who he is.

…just like Magnus’ cat eyes.

However, the Angelic isn’t the most prominent rune that Alec bears - or at least not the most notable. That achievement easily belongs to the Deflect rune across his neck. As much a part of Alec as it looks because it represents Alec’s entire style of fighting. Alec fights to protect Jace, deflecting blows aimed at his parabati. In Magnus' opinion, the rune does a pretty good job of encompassing Alec as a fighter.

The one across his collar bone Magnus recognises is the Accuracy rune, though, aging in the warlock’s opinion, such a rune seems rather pointless on his devastatingly handsome shadowhunter. After all, Alec fires arrows like he’s been doing it since birth, in such a sure fire manner that Magnus doesn’t doubt his aim is bang on every time whether he activates the rune or not.

Over his ribs, that Magnus' gaze skips to next – that rise and fall in regular breath and adorable snores – curls what the warlock knows to be the Calm Anger rune. Opposed to the Accuracy rune, perhaps this one _does_ have an earned place on Alec’s skin.

Some might say it’s a flaw in Alec’s personality, especially as a fighter who shouldn’t let themselves be ruled so by emotions, but Alec is quick to anger.

Magnus had witnessed this first hand when Jace went missing only a few months back and again when he'd learnt of Isabelle’s yin-fen addiction. Magnus has come to recognise that Alec is quick to anger when he fears for someone he loves. Therefore, Magnus believes that it’s a part of Alec that he’ll never regard as a flaw. It’s proof of how fiercely the shadowhunter loves: something admirable in any being.

Over the curves of muscle further down his abdomen arc Alec’s Flexibility and Stamina runes. While the warlock is sure they can prove handy in battle, and give Alec the edge during longer hand to hand fights with one or another of his demon foes, as far as Magnus is concerned, their foremost advantage resigns mainly right here on this bed.

The next one Magnus notices, against the flat skin of his stomach and almost hidden by the way his hips turn into the matrass, is the shadowhunter’s Parabati rune. He could say much about such a rune, much about how he wishes Jace weren’t so Jace something and that the rune had a little less effect on Alec as it does, but he’s more or less come to peace with it.

With Alexander comes Jace. And while bothersome at times, Jace is entirely harmless, so Magnus has come to accept him and his importance to Alec.

However, undoubtedly the most common marking on his Alexander is the Iratze rune. They lie in abundance over every patch of skin easily reached, and while some are almost faded entirely, others are so freshly draw that the burn of the rune still looks warm against Alec’s skin.

For the most part, Magnus is thankful for them. It’s the rune that has brought Alec back to him time and time again, healed Alec and kept him alive and breathing. Another part of Magnus aches that the rune is so common across his boyfriend’s arms and stomach, that there are places where the rune’s been redrawn enough that it permanently marks the skin.

Across the lower part of the shadowhunter’s left arm, Magnus recognises the Unseen – or Glamour – rune: Alec’s favourite. At least, the warlock considers it his favourite. After all, Alec relies on the rune enough, never eager to walk seen within the mundane world, always much more at ease in the privacy of the warlock's loft.

The last rune that Magnus is familiar with – that finds home across Alec’s chest – is one that Alexander himself taught Magnus the meaning of: The Trust rune.

He'd had vague knowledge of the rune before he met Alec, a rune used by shadowhunters to allow themselves to be sure of each other in battle, when everything's riding on a plan that cannot be allowed to go wrong.

But against the skin of his shadowhunter, of his Alexander, it’s purpose is more than that. Alec finds it hard to trust, probably for due reason. In all the time Magnus has known him, he’s seen Alec only associate a few to such a rune, limited to just his parabati and his darling sister Isabelle at times.

And Magnus.

Magnus hadn’t recognised it at first, that Alec’s fingers often trace the rune absent-mindedly against his skin whenever he’s lying close enough.

Whenever they lie with legs and arms tangled, not really caring for doing anything other than breath in each other’s scent, Alec’s fingers begin drawing out the rune in familiar form across the warlocks back or chest, his half-lidded, oblivious gaze lingering on Magnus as though associating him with the rune is second nature.

In all his years of living, Magnus has always considered being loved by someone a gift to be treasured. Because of all the people in the world, someone choosing to love you is special. Someone choosing to risk their heart with you, their secrets and their pleasures, is special and rare and delicate, especially when love can be so easily shattered.

And yet to be loved by Alexander is something entirely overwhelming, even for Magnus.

When Alec chooses to trust so few, and yet has never allowed Magnus to doubt that he’s one of those people, when the shadowhunter loves so fiercely and protects so untiringly, to be loved by Alexander is something entirely new for Magnus.

And opening up to the shadowhunter had been terrifying. But opening up to Alec had also felt right. His shadowhunter hadn’t let him down, and had held him tightly last night till Magnus believed his broken pieces had started to slot back together…

“You’re staring.”

Alec’s voice is filled with sleep, his eyes closed. Magnus is left to chuckle quietly at his boyfriend who in stirring consciousness, reaches out on instinct to pull the warlock closer and seal his arms around Magnus’ back.

“You’re beautiful,” Magnus answers truthfully, feeling the contentment that blooms in his chest along with being even half as honest as Alec always is.

Alec’s sleep contorted face only allows his eyebrows to furrow half way, then he’s cracking open an eye to observe Magnus dryly, seemingly unimpressed and still very much asleep as he retorts: “You’re the beautiful one.”

The warlock’s grin grows impossibly bigger as he moves a hand to trace a light touch along the sharp lines of Alec’s jaw. “Agree to disagree?” He muses with a humorous tone.  

Alec’s back to leaving his eyes shut but this time when he speaks, his words are a little less sleep drawled: “Fine. But you’re wrong.”

Magnus only laughs, then dips to peck his boyfriend on the lips. Alec makes a dissatisfied groan as the kiss is left for the duration of a simple peck and Magnus leans back in and this time lingers when their mouths meet.

Alec tastes of morning: a strong, not entirely unpleasant taste, but Alec’s also warm, which Magnus welcomes with gratification, allowing the shadowhunter to further wrap his arms around him.

When he pulls back, Alec whines a little but then his own lips are spreading out into a grin and finally, he opens his eyes. Alec blinks. Once. Twice. Taking in the sight of Magnus with a gradually brightening smile that reaches his eyes. Then it drops. Suddenly.

“What is it?” Magnus asks, slightly puzzled by the sudden shocked look on Alec’s features.

The shadowhunter shakes his head then, wide eyes reflecting a dulled wonder as he answers: “You’re here.”

“I am…” Magnus hesitates, unsure of what the shadowhunter is getting at.

“It’s just, this is the first time I’ve woken up and you’ve been here, in bed… in a while.” A blush covers Alec’s cheeks with the words but his grip tightens where his arms remain around the warlock’s waist.

Another bloom of contentment fills Magnus’ chest and as he smiles, Alec relaxes against him again. “I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”

Alec seems to debate the words before a decision covers his face and he leans in so that their noses brush: “Good.”


End file.
